Quality Of Movies Research Articles

The real-time rendering of subdivision surfaces using hardware tessellation

Abstract In the last decade, computer-generated images have become a vital and integral part of our everyday lives. The quality of these images depends considerably on the geometric representation of the underlying virtual 3D environments. Subdivision surfaces, one such representation, have been found to be very useful due to their unique geometric properties. These properties led to the adaptation of subdivision surfaces as a movie industry standard for modeling 3D geometry, making subdivision surfaces indispensable in today's film productions. However, despite the high surface quality of subdivision surfaces, the complexity of underlying calculations requires a significant computational budget. In this thesis, we address this problem and propose novel algorithms to accelerate the evaluation of subdivision surfaces by several orders of magnitude. This enables the rendering of high-quality movie content on commercially available desktop computers within only a few milliseconds, opening up the possibility of using subdivision surfaces in real-time applications (e. g., video games). The results of this work have been made publicly available in Pixar's open source initiative OpenSubdiv, which is used in many industry applications (e. g., Maya, a modeling software by the industry leader Autodesk). Our algorithms can also be found in video games such as Activision's best seller Call of Duty: Ghosts, where we now can enjoy the surface quality of movies.

Aggregate Bandwagon Effects of Popularity Information on Audiences' Movie Selections

This study empirically examines the bandwagon effect of product-popularity information on the choices of audiovisual content products. Regression analysis is conducted using the data of Hollywood movies' box office revenues in 73 countries during 2003–2007. The results confirm the aggregate bandwagon effect in audiences' selections of Hollywood movies and shows that the strength of the bandwagon effect is magnified by how uncertain people are about the quality of movies.

Distance and similarity measures for hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets and their application in multi-criteria decision making

The hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets (HFLTSs), which can be used to represent an expert’s hesitant preferences when assessing a linguistic variable, increase the flexibility of eliciting and representing linguistic information. The HFLTSs have attracted a lot of attention recently due to their distinguished power and efficiency in representing uncertainty and vagueness within the process of decision making. To enhance and extend the applicability of HFLTSs, this paper investigates and develops different types of distance and similarity measures for HFLTSs. The paper first proposes a family of distance and similarity measures between two HFLTSs. Then a variety of weighted or ordered weighted distance and similarity measures between two collections of HFLTSs are proposed and analyzed for discrete and continuous cases respectively. After that, the application of these measures to multi-criteria decision making problems is given. Based on the proposed distance and similarity measures, the satisfaction degrees for different alternatives are established and are then used to rank alternatives in multi-criteria decision making. Finally a practical example concerning the evaluation of the quality of movies is given to illustrate the applicability and advantage of the proposed approach and the differences between the proposed distance and similarity measures.

Estimating Structural Models of Equilibrium and Cognitive Hierarchy Thinking in the Field: The Case of Withheld Movie Critic Reviews

Film studios occasionally withhold movies from critics before their release. Because the unreviewed movies tend to be below average in quality, this practice provides a useful setting in which to test models of limited strategic thinking: Do moviegoers seem to realize that no review is a sign of low quality? A companion paper showed that in a set of all widely released movies in 2000–2009, cold opening produces a significant 20%–30% increase in domestic box office revenue, which is consistent with moviegoers overestimating quality of unreviewed movies (perhaps due to limited strategic thinking). This paper reviews those findings and provides two models to analyze this data: an equilibrium model and a behavioral cognitive hierarchy model that allows for differing levels of strategic thinking between moviegoers and movie studios. The behavioral model fits the data better, because moviegoer parameters are relatively close to those observed in experimental subjects. These results suggests that limited strategic thinking rather than equilibrium reasoning may be a better explanation for naïve moviegoer behavior. This paper was accepted by Brad Barber, behavioral economics.

Management Insights

Management Insights

Tobacco smoking: How far do the legislative control measures address the problem?

India ratified the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in February 2004 and enacted legislation called, “Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act 2003” which specifically called for an end to direct and indirect form of tobacco advertisements. Under its Section 7, the Act also stipulates depiction of pictorial health warnings on all tobacco products. Since the enactment of the legislation, the tobacco companies are prohibited from any kind of advertisement. However, studies show that the instances of showing smoking in movies have increased significantly to 89% after the implementation of the Act. The brand placement has been also increased nearly three folds. Association of tobacco with glamour and style has also been established. Seventy-five percent of movies have showed the lead character smoking tobacco. The instances of females consuming tobacco in movies have also increased, pointing toward a specific market expansion strategy by tobacco companies using movies as a vehicle. General public does not feel that banning tobacco scenes in the movie will affect their decision to watch movies or the quality of movies. It was found that favorable images through mass media created a considerable influence on youngsters and increased their receptivity to tobacco smoking. Pictorial warning on tobacco products is yet to start. Tobacco industry's opposition to tobacco health warnings is understandable as it will adversely affect their business. However, policymakers should not evade their responsibility to mandate strong health warnings on all tobacco product packs. Legal action against offenders, investigation of the relationship and financial irregularities between film-makers and tobacco industry, and recall of the movies showing tobacco brand are the important measures recommended.

Cinema Demand in Korea

This study analyzes the determinants of cinema demand in Korea for 1963 to 2004. The study specifies a time series-based simultaneous-equations model and considers some variables that have not been included in other studies of cinema demand at the national level. The estimation results indicate that cinema demand increases with an increase in the variety and quality of movies but decreases with an increase in admission price and television diffusion. Moreover, cinema services are a substitute for trips to cultural facilities and a complement to cable television services. The results also indicate that attendance and income are significant determinants of cinema supply.

The timing of movie releases: Evidence from the home video industry

In the movie industry, an intriguing question is why studios cluster their big theatrical hits during the Memorial Day or July 4th weekends in the early summer as opposed to the fall. This paper examines the home video industry to provide more evidence on whether booms in theatrical revenues are driven by the underlying seasonality of demand or the quality of movies released. First, I find no evidence of segmentation within the home video market by genre or newness of videos. Secondly, my estimates of the seasonality within the home video market suggest that Memorial Day and July 4th may be more favorable for a theatrical release than Labor Day.

Which prosthetic? Mass media, narrative, empathy, and progressive politics

While Alison Landsberg's argument for a politically progressive prosthetic memory made possible by modern media and global capital is theoretically provocative and politically appealing, it is ultimately unsustainable. What she describes as memory might better be called a combination of knowledge and empathy. And her account of the prosthetic quality of movies and experiential museums is equally applicable to more traditional verbal texts and, indeed, to symbol use per se. Nevertheless, Landsberg's book (Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture, Columbia University Press, 2004) presents a valuable new way of thinking about the problem of representing and responding to events one did not experience.

Seasonality in the U.S. motion picture industry

The observed seasonality of box‐office revenues reflects both seasonality in underlying demand for movies and seasonality in the number and quality of available movies. I separately identify these aspects by estimating weekly demand for movies, using movie fixed effects, a long panel of movies' weekly revenues, and restrictions on their decay pattern. I find that the estimated seasonality in underlying demand is much smaller and slightly different from the observed seasonality of sales. The biggest movies are released at times when demand is highest, amplifying the underlying seasonality. Price rigidities in the industry may facilitate this amplification effect.

Play It Again, Sam? Optimal Replacement Policies for a Motion Picture Exhibitor

Every week, motion picture exhibitors must decide whether to keep or replace the movies playing in their theaters in light of the past week's sales data. This decision is complex because of the dynamic decision environment, the uncertainty of demand, the complex revenue-sharing terms between the retailer and the distributor, the need to commit to new movies for several weeks, and the competitive release patterns of movies. We formulate this problem as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) model, using it to obtain replacement policies for the exhibitor. We examine the effect of differences in quality and quantity of available movies, and their respective release dates on the returns from model-based normative solutions. We also show that two practical heuristics are significantly outperformed by the optimal policy for the MDP model. We conclude by applying the model to industry data.

On the perceived quality of movies

We address the question of the quality of movies produced between 1950 and 1970. A first outcome of our analysis is that the quality assessments made during the Cannes Festival, and to a lesser degree, by the U.S. Academy are short-lasting. In contrast to this, consumers seem consistent over time. There is, however, one issue on which experts agree as well as consumers: American movies dominate both in terms of commercial success and in terms of quality. There is less agreement, and sometimes there is even dissent concerning other dimensions. This does not come as a surprise and merely indicates that there is hardly a common yardstick along which the quality of a movie can be measured. Therefore, decomposing a work of art into quantifiable characteristics – even in a subjective but possibly unanimous way – would make it possible to explain the divergences between audiences and changes of appreciation over time.

Morphing radiologic images: applications on a desktop computer.

Morphing is an image processing technology that transforms one image into another by generating a series of intermediate synthetic images. The ability to perform morphing, once restricted to high-end graphics workstations, is now widely available for desktop computers. We investigated the potential use of morphing for displaying radiographic images. Morphing was performed with commercially available software (Morph 2.5; Gryphon Software, San Diego, CA) on a Macintosh (Apple Computer, Cupertino, CA) computer. Images from 26 patients with serial radiologic studies were selected, digitized, and morphed. Key points and key surfaces were identified on the images to improve the quality of the morph movie, a process that took approximately 15 min. The images were then morphed into a continuous Quick Time (Apple) movie lasting 5-7 sec. When a sequence contained more than two images, a single movie incorporating all the images was created. The intervals between segments of the movie were made proportional to the actual time elapsed between the images. Images obtained with different techniques (positron emission tomography and MR imaging) were also morphed. Three observers judged the quality of the morph movies as satisfactory, good, or excellent. Twenty of the 26 movies were judged to be of good or excellent quality. The movie format allowed the rapid display of multiple images in a concise 5- 7-sec time frame. Moreover, the movie allowed the recognition of several simultaneous processes more easily than was possible with static images. Morphing two images of the same anatomic site using different techniques (MR imaging and positron emission tomography) proved to be a simple method of superimposing images. Morphing is a readily available and easily learned technique for displaying serial studies. The movie format is a more interesting, intuitive, and concise summary of events than can be provided by serial static images. Morphing may be useful for displaying large numbers of serial images in a short time for occasions such as clinical conferences or teaching purposes.